Notre Dame reporter Kathryn Tappen talks rumors linking Marcus Freeman to the NFL and Ohio State, Rutgers’ 2026 outlook, and more
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Notre Dame reporter Kathryn Tappen talks rumors linking Marcus Freeman to the NFL and Ohio State, Rutgers’ 2026 outlook, and more originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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NBC Sports on-field reporter Kathryn Tappen, who has covered Notre Dame Fighting Irish football for the network for over a decade, doesn’t believe there’s anything to the idea that Marcus Freeman is plotting a move to the NFL or his alma mater, the Ohio State Buckeyes. At least, not until Freeman wins a championship in South Bend first.
A jump to the pros sounds likelier than a jump to Columbus and the Big Ten. Still, Tappen is tepid about the concept of Freeman jumping ship anytime soon. The rumor mill connected Freeman to various openings in December and January, including the New York Giants, Cleveland Browns, and Pittsburgh Steelers. Obviously, none of the rumors went very far.
Ahead of NBC’s presentation of the 2026 American Century Championship from the Edgewood Tahoe Resort in Stateline, Nevada, from July 8 to July 12, Tappen discussed with me the Fighting Irish, her alma mater’s football program, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and her pick to win the annual celebrity golf tournament. Tappen will be one of 90 celebrities competing, and one of two women, alongside all-time LPGA Tour golfer Annika Sörenstam, in the field.
On the Marcus Freeman-NFL rumors…
“I think it's great for Marcus Freeman. I think every NFL team should be looking at Marcus. I think the world of him. I think he's an outstanding football coach, and I think when teams are successful at the collegiate level, and I see it in every sport I cover, we see it in the National Hockey League as well. Coaches who are successful at the collegiate level are absolutely going to get a look at the NFL level. And Marcus is getting more than a look…
“Marcus is probably getting, I don't know what's going on behind closed doors, but I'm sure there are a lot of teams that were interested and probably wanted to make an offer to him. But he believes in Notre Dame. I love that he stands by this program. I think, quite frankly, Marcus is not going to leave Notre Dame until he wins a national title, and he probably will…
“I love what he stands for. I love the mentor that he is to that group. We spend a lot of time with him in meetings, and he's a super impressive man. He’s an outstanding football coach, as we know, but again, I think he's an even more impressive person…
“And that resonates at a school like Notre Dame, because you're not getting your average football player at Notre Dame. You're getting a 5-star recruit who's also an exceptional student-athlete…who also comes from a great family, or has a great upbringing, whose values are there. And if they're not, they're going to be there within a few days of being on the campus of Notre Dame, because that's the level and the standard that they uphold for everybody.”
“So, Marcus, I give credit to him. I always gave credit to Brian Kelly for upholding that level of standard at Notre Dame. But I think Marcus will go if he wants to go to the NFL. When or if he goes, good for him. And it just means he's doing a great job where he's at, that all of these NFL teams are interested in him.”
On Marcus Freeman’s emotional pull to his alma mater, Ohio State…
“I see a lot of these guys that narrowly miss an opportunity to go back to their alma mater. Mike Vrabel, for a short period of time, was coaching at Ohio State a little bit. And I mean, sure, there may have been an opportunity. Guys kind of rotate a lot, and they spend time on different staffs when they're in between positions at the NFL level, but I don't know. I don't see Ryan Day leaving anytime soon…
“I guess it would be a timing thing for Marcus if it did open up, but again, the Ohio State football team is very different than the Notre Dame football team. I think what he's got at Notre Dame, and having covered Notre Dame for gosh, I mean, I don't even know, 13 years, 14 years now, it's a unique place…
“Marcus is extremely spiritual. His family really loves it there. He has a lot of pride. I think that is a perfect fit for him right now, and I don't think he's even thinking about Ohio State… if Ryan Day were to leave, I don’t know if he would go that direction. But I guess if the chips align, you can't rule anything out these days.”
On Notre Dame being snubbed from the CFP in favor of Alabama…
“It was not handled the way I thought it was going to go. I thought Notre Dame should have been in as well. And to your point, I also think Alabama should have been the team left out. I think that only fuels Notre Dame. Now they have this massive chip on their shoulder. They so narrowly missed the College Football Playoff. They declined their bowl invitation. I think that was a huge message sent. And now they're loaded, and they're ready, and they're totally focused on winning their 12th national title in school history…
“You just gave them more reason to steamroll through their opponents this year, and I think they will. I do think Notre Dame has national championship aspirations. I think they deserve to have them because I think they will be in the national championship game. I'm not going to predict now because I don't know who the opponent would be, but I wouldn't be surprised if they win it this year…
“A lot of that has to do with their quarterback. CJ Carr is just a complete stud. He is 110% all ball all the time. They always recruit an elite offensive line. The defense is always impressive. They've got some new defensive coaches on staff that I'm really excited to see what they can do. To your point, I think it’s almost like “shame on the committee,” because you just gave these guys an absolute fire to go win a national championship.”
On a fair goal for Rutgers during the 2026 season…
“I think a fair goal for Rutgers would be to finish in, I would hope, the middle of the Big Ten conference. I think these realistic goals need to be set and need to be achieved, quite frankly. We finished near the bottom… 2-7 in the conference is just not going to be good enough. And I think what's interesting about Rutgers is, of those seven games that they lost, there were so many close calls…
“I think that's just a symbol of where we're at. I think we're right on the cusp of being in a meaningful position in the Big Ten. There’s no reason why we can't be where Illinois, Minnesota, and Washington are in the middle of the pack there. I think you've got to eliminate Indiana, Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon…we're not quite at that level at this moment. In time. But we certainly could on any given day upset those teams…
“I just think realistically, Iowa finished 6-3, that's a great football team and is consistent year after year. I think that's what Rutgers needs to aim to achieve. We need to be where Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, and Washington finished in the Big 10 last year. There were so many close calls, and so many games where we were right in it until the end. And that just tells you that the program is in a good place…
“We've got great recruits coming in. There's more funding coming into the program. I love what Keli Zinn has done with the athletic program as a whole, and I think she gets it coming from LSU and coming from the SEC…the reality is we could spend money. This is the reality of college football now. NIL has changed all that…
“We're going to get money for these athletes across the board…Olympic sports, and men's and women's basketball, which obviously we know are the big juggernauts at the school, but it's a state University of New Jersey, in the heart of one of the most affluent regions of the country. There's no reason why we can't get funding and pay these athletes what they deserve.”
On Rutgers’ QB battle between Dylan Lonergan and AJ Surace…
“Obviously, we saw what Lonergan did at Boston College, and we had him for one of our (Big Ten Saturday Night) games last year against Michigan State…his pedigree is pretty impressive. Who he's learned from is unique. I mean, Rodney Harrison was one of his mentors…
"The one advantage, I think, for AJ Surace is that he spent time and learned the playbook…He backed up Athan Kaliakmanis, who I thought took massive strides when he got into the Rutgers program…When you look at Athan, when he was at Minnesota, compared to who he was under Greg Schiano’s tutelage at Rutgers, and the way he thrived, I was super impressed with year one to year two with Athan. And I think that's a testament to what a quarterback can do in a system for longer than two years…
“I would love to see one of these guys, AJ, for example, a redshirt freshman…I would love to see him stay for a number of years and develop this program, make it his own, own the quarterback position. But he's got the familiarity with the coaching system. He's been backing up Athan. He knows that playbook. I think the fact that there is a competition is great because it makes these guys perform to their absolute best, leading up to whoever's named the starter for Week 1…
“That's what you want to see. The competition only fuels results. And I think that's what you're going to see when these guys hit the field later this summer…I'm excited for it. I think, again, Dylan Lonergan is super impressive. I'm cheering for both of them, and I think having two options is a pretty good problem to have for Rutgers football this fall.”
On if Rutgers' pass-rush will improve with 4-star EDGE Rinaldo Callaway on board…
"Yeah, I mean, we have to see it. That was obviously a glaring issue last fall. He's going to make a difference and have an immediate impact. I just think too, his leadership and his presence in that defense are going to be looked at by everyone else. So it's going to be up to him to set that level of expectation in that locker room, to lead by example, to lead on the football field. Show us what he's got, right? Like he comes as advertised, shows everything, all the reasons he came into Rutgers and into this program…
"Schiano's defense is, by definition, aggressive, physical, and very sound man coverage. It's very principled. And I think that if those values can be instilled with the talent that we've got this fall, I mean, it can only improve. I think it has all the tools to improve as well. So hopefully it does."
On which NHL team will win the Stanley Cup…
“I think the Avs are going to get through this series with Vegas. I think Carolina is going to get through their series with Montreal, so we're going to have Carolina and Colorado, and I've got to give the edge to the Avalanche. I think Nathan MacKinnon is on a mission. I think losing that gold medal with Canada is fueling him right now…
“I just see the depth of Colorado being too challenging. I think Carolina's going to make it to the Stanley Cup Final and finally silence all the critics of why they get so far but they never get to the Stanley Cup Final."
On her pick to win the 2026 American Century Championship…
“I'm going to go with Annika. I obviously love Annika. I grew up rooting for Annika. I watch so closely throughout the tournament every year that she plays because she's always right there. She's always right in the pack. As a fellow female in the field, I always cheer even extra hard for her…
“I really think that Annika has an advantage to win this year, just because now she's played in the event for a number of years…She's well aware of what it takes to win. I think this is her year. I love what she represents in the field, both for women watching and for young girls in attendance. I'm cheering for her. She’s my pick.”
On women’s athletes she’d love to see in future American Century Championship fields…
“Carli Lloyd and I went to Rutgers University together, and I reached out to her two summers ago. I'm pretty sure they reached out to her for the tournament as well. I think her schedule conflicted, and then this year she's got the FIFA World Cup. So hopefully we can get Carli Lloyd in there. I know she took up golf when she retired from soccer. Her husband is a pro at their golf club, so I know Carli's been really focused on golf and enjoys the game. I hope we can get her out there. She's also pregnant, expecting baby number two…
“I played one year with Abby Wambach. I would love to get Abby back. I couldn't believe the overwhelming cheers and soccer balls that were thrown at her, and all that great stuff. I'm hoping we can get someone like Abby. I'd love to see, maybe like a Julie Foudy or Mia Hamm…the best thing about it is you don't have to be good at golf. No one's expecting me to go out there and win. And by the way, it's not about that…
“I think a lot of guys and Annika, certainly, do want to go out and win it, but the rest of us are out there supporting the cause. It’s an incredible tournament, raising over $8 million for the American Century Investments Foundation last year. I'm just hoping that we can get some other females in there. I know it's the WNBA season, so it’s unlikely we will ever get a WNBA player, but it was great to have Cathy Engelbert out there last year…
“Maybe Katie Ledecky wants to go play. I think next year she'll be training for LA 2028, but see, and that's the thing, just the timing where everybody's at with their training regimens. But there are a couple of PWHL players that I think are outstanding golfers…maybe you get Hilary Knight out there, or you get Megan Keller. Whoever wants to come out and play, I am all for it, and I will be cheering hard for any woman who wants to enter the field and put themselves out there.”
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